Title of the Op-Ed in Thursday's Wall St Journal. The writer, Seth Cropsey, former naval officer, currently with the Hudson Institute, writes a lot about the Navy's need for more funding, and the size of the job the Navy is tasked to do, and extended deployments. But he doesn't talk about the real causes of this accident. Things like the following: Were navigation lights burning on both vessels? Was the destroyer's radar manned and operating? What was the range to the tanker when radar reported the contact to the bridge? How many lookouts were on duty at the time of the accident (o'dark thirty) How close was the tanker when the lookouts first reported it to the bridge? Who was officer of the deck? Was he on the bridge? Was he awake? How long had he been on duty? How much experience did he have? Did the officer of the deck order full speed to avoid collision? Could the engines produce full speed (30 knots or better for a destroyer) or were they worn or broken? What were the skipper's standing orders regarding steering clear of merchant vessels? Did he quote Admiral Dan Gallery, "Steer well clear of any merchie, lest he decide to liven up your day by ramming you." Where was the skipper anyhow? Was there radio traffic with a shore traffic control center? If so, what was it?
In short, do our sailors know what they are doing?
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